Wotcha, Walford

The Slaters exploded into east London in 2000, led by mild-mannered dad Charlie, vinegary gran Big Mo and lipsticked, micro-skirted wildchild Kat. Replacing the dull Di Marcos, they immediately upped EastEnders’s quotient of blazing barneys, and toxic secrets, often without leaving the house.

Family ties

The Slaters provided an all-time classic EastEnders jaw-dropper in 2001, when Kat revealed that younger sister Zoe was in fact her daughter, the result of Kat having been raped by her uncle when she was a teen. The scene (“You can’t tell me what to do, you ain’t my mother!” – “YES I AM!”) has repeatedly been voted soap’s best ever twist.

Heavy metal

Later that year, the clan struck again when Kat’s actual sister, Little Mo, took revenge on her terrifying husband, Trevor, by braining him with a hot iron.

Kat loses a life

Kat last appeared on screen in 2017, not in Albert Square but in Redwater, BBC1’s strange mash of Easties spin-off and faux-Broadchurch coastal homicide drama. The cliffhanger ending saw her lacerated by a boat propeller after a trip with her long-lost son, a serial-killer priest. It didn’t look good.

They’re back!

Next week, Big Mo comes back to Walford to inform long-term resident Stacey that Kat is, indeed, dead. Except we know that Kat is returning, so this isn’t true. Stacey and her mum Jean – Charlie’s nephew’s wife – formed the second wave of Slaters in 2004: the mystery of Kat’s exaggerated demise is to be solved, or further muddied, by Jean herself making a surprise appearance.

Who’s left?

Living Slaters who could in theory also come back: Zoe (fled to Ibiza after helping murder Dirty Den), Lynne (moved to Brighton after losing a baby following a fairground accident), Little Mo (relocated to Barnstaple after just generally getting sick of everyone).

Charlie’s return in 2016 ended in a fatal coronary during yet another massive row – you wouldn’t want to bet on everyone surviving the Slaters’ latest effort to keep EastEnders fans guessing.